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WHEN A COP IS UNJUSTLY FRAMED FOR CRIMES, HE IS FORCED TO TEAM UP WITH CARNIVAL MISFITS AND TAKE ON A NEW IDENTITY, FIGHT CRIME AND WIN HIS FAMILY BACK — Fueled by a desire to reunite with his wife Dana (Jennifer Ferrin) and son Trip (Ryan Wynott), former police officer Vince Faraday (David Lyons) becomes “The Cape” — his son’s favorite comic book superhero — and takes the law into his own hands and to battle criminal forces that have overtaken Palm City. Faraday is joined by Max Malini (Keith David), the ringleader of a circus gang of bank robbers, who mentors Faraday and trains him to become “The Cape,” as well as investigative blogger Orwell (Summer Glau) who wages war on crime and corruption in Palm City. Together, they must battle Ark corporation billionaire Peter Fleming (James Frain) — The Cape’s nemesis — who moonlights as the twisted killer “Chess.” Also starring are Vinnie Jones (as Scales), Martin Klebba (Rollo), Dorian Missick (Marty), Izabella Mike (Raia) and Anil Kumar (Ruvi).

Official Description: 1x2 Tarot

WHEN ARK CORPORATION THREATENS TO PRIVATIZE PALM CITY’S PRISONS, THE CAPE MUST FIND A WAY TO STOP THEM BEFORE THINGS TURN DEADLY — The Cape (David Lyons) must battle Chess (James Frain) and his latest accomplice Cain — a/k/a Chef (guest star Raza Jaffrey) — as they try to take down the Patrick Portman (guest star Richard Schiff), the Secretary for the Bureau of Prisons, in an attempt to take over Palm City’s jails. After narrowly escaping death, The Cape must rely on Orwell (Summer Glau), Max Malini (Keith David) and the circus gang to nurse him back to health and then help him save Patrick before it is too late. Also starring are Vinnie Jones (as Scales), Martin Klebba (Rollo), Dorian Missick (Marty), Izabella Mike (Raia) and Anil Kumar (Ruvi)

Interview with James Frain. I predict he's going to steal the show. Most likely won't rescue it from nose-diving in the ratings soon after the premiere - villains can't drive a network show, the audience is too mainstream for such things - but at least it will give me a motive to watch till the bitter end.

what exactly is The Cape? It’s another misstep by NBC, for starters. But more importantly it’s a series that looks like a whole bunch of cooks decided to build the most creatively awesome and different kitchen imaginable, forgetting for a moment that none of them can really cook.

...

What was the pitch session like? “We’re going to make a series that will have everyone thinking ‘Batman’ at the start but it will eventually leave them feeling disappointed and huckstered. Do you love it already?”

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Business as usual for network TV.

And wow, everyone is bitching about the cape as a motif. The cape is corny, the cape is stupid. Well, I can see the point, the cape is just the same magical doohickey as the Intersect is for Chuck Bartowski. But having a computer in your brain is nerdy-cool, and they cast the character with someone who has enough charm to overcome whatever little bumps there may be in us believing the hooey.

God, that was horrible. I had low expectations for "The Cape" going in, but this beat them. The writers skipped the character development, and assumed you'd be interested in the character arcs to excuse the piss-poor action. Nothing worked, they skipped through the entire origin story, (which begs the question, why did they even show the origin?) and just went through the superhero numbers. Corrupt police force? Got it. Businessman who is secretly evil? Yep. Framed for a crime? Check. Watching his family mourn from far away? Also, there.

And poor Richard Schiff, he wanted to act, he tried to act, but the script wouldn't let him. If he can't save this, not even Summer Glau's leg can (because god knows it's not like her character was worthwhile).

God, that was horrible. I had low expectations for "The Cape" going in, but this beat them. The writers skipped the character development, and assumed you'd be interested in the character arcs to excuse the piss-poor action. Nothing worked, they skipped through the entire origin story, (which begs the question, why did they even show the origin?) and just went through the superhero numbers. Corrupt police force? Got it. Businessman who is secretly evil? Yep. Framed for a crime? Check. Watching his family mourn from far away? Also, there.

And poor Richard Schiff, he wanted to act, he tried to act, put the script wouldn't let him. If he can't save this, not even Summer Glau's leg can (because god knows it's not like her character was worthwhile).

"Who are you?"
"I'm The Cape."
"But you're not wearing a cape."
"I'm working on that."

I hate to say it, but Orwell comes off as a more competent fighter than Vince does. But I get that they're trying to show his learning curve, and that's a good thing. I just get frustrated when the hero gets beat down every freaking fight.

How many fabulous cars does Orwell have? Geez.

I have to watch it next week -- that definitely looked like (one of my favorite actors) in the preview.

The Cape had some interesting caricatures and I loved the superheroics and training with the way they mixed illusionist tricks with crime fighting. For that alone I'd give it a "Good" grade. The rest, however, was unremarkable. One big weak spot was our lead guy not being able to see his wife and kid. Despite a seemingly credible threat from Chess, the whole thing came off as contrived and unnecessary. We also have him working with some criminals who suddenly become crusaders with the bank robberies swept under the rug. What?! But I did like those circus folks anyway. Another thing I didn't like was them making The Cape a guy imitating a comic book hero. The Cape should have been an original creation on the cop's part.

And what was up with Chess's eyes? Why were they lighter in some scenes? They almost looked like the eyes of a cat or a reptile.

I wouldn't call it a Batman ripoff. I mean other works are allowed to show crime fighters and even their training, nobody owns that, but it did seem to take a few scenes right from Batman Begins. One was when the hero was poisoned and had to be rescued and driven away. Another was when the hero confronted Richard Shiff's character in his office without full garb.

Watched it off and on for the two hours, but I think I got the gist of it. There are many obvious differences, but the "feel" of the series reminded me of the original Malibu Ultraverse Night Man comic (not to be confused with that horrid television series Night Man which shared little with the comic).

The element I enjoy (and what the Night Man comic had) is the hero being a work in progress. This kind of character is a hero who barely has a clue what he's doing, but he's trying really hard to learn as he goes. In contrast, a character like Batman does not feel like someone unprepared even when he is unprepared; he comes across as just making mistakes. With Night Man and The Cape, I see it as a surprise miracle that they survived the night.

Anyway, I'll keep tuning in. It's not a show worthy of high praise, but I enjoyed it.

Like TF, I was watching this off and on and I see what they're going for but I'm not quite sure about the execution. I need to watch it off the DVR with full attention though before really judging it. I kind of liked the look of the characters though, it was outlandish yet looked more "real" somehow than you normally see.

The carnival stuff reminded me of Heroes as well but I think Heroes did the carnival atmosphere better.

WTF? I guess it's good not to be Heroes super slow, but The Cape moved way too fast. They took a two-hour pilot and condensed it to one hour, and took out a lot of common sense and character/plot development so that it could fill those 43 minutes.